It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here with the family in the wild woods of Maine. Looking forward to snow tomorrow, Wahoo!!! Allyson made it up safe and sound Sunday night. Jesse left about 6ish so they must have been 2 ships passing in the night. Bad bad snowstorms all weekend long up here in the Northeast, I'm just happy that everyone traveled safe, me included. We've only got two more days until the big day, and I realized I haven't gotten anything for Gram. AAACK!!!! I think the kids and I will be making her a photo album tomorrow. That way when Gram's memory goes kaput every 90 seconds or so, we can show her the album to remind her who everyone is and where they live. It is hard watching your grandparents and parents get older.

2 weeks till vacation!

I don't even know if I can express how EXCITED I am to see my family. For some reason, being with my family seems to ground me in reality and remind of who I really am. So, my plan for when I'm home? Goes something like this:
1.Read stories with Paytyn

2.Make cookies with Owen & Aspen
3.Snowshoe between the barn and the house
4. Read myself a story
5. Read more stories with Paytyn
6. Play games with Owen & Aspen
7. Talk to Mom, Amber, Allyson, Dad, and Ben(if he's home)
8. Try to remember why I live in Utah instead of Maine.....OH WAIT! I know why, I don't really want to live in Maine, its too stinking cold.
9. Hang out with Jesse. I'll have to share him with the kids, especially Owen. The O Man was a little sad when Jesse left this summer.
Yup, that's about the size of it. I might add to my list drinking hot chocolate, throwing snowballs, and shooting clay pigeons, but I don't want to overschedule myself!

Awww, forget it...

I just don't think the Tuscan walls are going to happen for me.
For the following reasons:
1. The dude at Home Depot didn't give me the right paint.
2. After the base coat, the plaster coat, and the HIDEOUS gold coat I was sick and tired of painting.
3. The HIDEOUS gold coat of paint was a mistake by Home Depot. It was to be a one part metallic paint to 4 parts plaster mix.
4. My walls then looked like an homage to very bad 70s films.
5. I fell off the ladder too many times as it slid down the wall.
6. The last ride on the ladder pushed me and my piano into the wall.
7. There is now a fairly large dent in the wall due to the ladder ride into the piano.
8. I have too many bruises on the back of my legs from the aforementioned ladder.
9. I actually really like the brown color, and I can't take painting it again, since I painted it 4 times in 3 days.


This is the walls after hideous gold paint. This picture doesn't truly do justice to the hideousness of the paint. I can't even imagine what it would have looked like if the sun was up. I'm sure I would have burned out my retinas. Or been able to see it from the space station.

Almost Tuscan...

Going Tuscan

Started painting my front room this afternoon. This is the base coat of what will be a faux Tuscan finish. Stay tuned...

Couches + Spiral Staircase = 5 people to move them

After Ben and Owen were here last week, I was the proud owner of:
2 new toilets

1 new microwave


1 new dishwasher

1 rain shower fixture

New baseboards


Since I was feeling very home-remodelly(is that even a word?) I decided to take even more drastic measures. I had a full size couch, loveseat, and big chair upstairs in my loft. I was going to try to sell them on Craigslist or KSL. I was even going to sweeten the deal and offer the 3 pieces at about $200 with the caveat that whoever bought them would have to be able to get them outta my house. Then, I got to thinking about strange people in my house, damaged furniture, and a ruined condo.
I have a student teacher in my classroom this year. He and his wife just bought a house in Kaysville. I figured that the furniture should go to a new home. I told Steve he could have all of them if he would just bring some people and get them out of my house. I had 3 of Monique's kids that day so there was plenty of warm bodies to help out. I finally have more space in my house.

The furniture that was downstairs is now upstairs, and my front room is empty except for my piano. I'm going to paint and then make my extra bedroom into a sewing room. Who knew that a home overhaul could make me so happy? :)

Don't sign me up for a dog!

So, watching Monique's kids for the weekend. No biggie, except for the dumb dog. This dog is dumber than creamed corn. She is a half basset hound/half yellow lab mix. So, think basset body but lab face and coat. Anyway, we're all hanging out today watching Singin' In The Rain' when I noticed a dinner plate sized puddle of dog vomit. That sealed the deal for me, that I don't want to have a dog. Then I had to listen to Kristen and Jake fight about who was going to clean it up. Grrrr.....Kristen stormed off, Jake got gloves and set about cleaning it up. I threatened Kristen with an evening entirely in the basement if she chose not to clean it up. It took her about 10 seconds to decide that a night downstairs was not the option she really wanted. We then discovered ANOTHER puddle of stuff downstairs. By this time, Jake had cleaned everything upstairs, so that left Kristen with the chore of downstairs. BUT, Kara stepped in the puddle downstairs. And the best part? Stephanie slept through the entire thing. She was on the couch while everyone was gagging and arguing about who was gonna have to do the nasty. Ugh...
Part II: Turns out that Bella, the dog, ate a WHOLE TUB OF BUTTER! It was on the counter and she swiped it off somehow. The container was licked clean. Dumb dog...

This must mean I'm a grown-up...

I have begun a quest to replace my two toilets. Without revealing too much information, let's just say that my father is looking forward to his future visits at my condo with new plumbing fixtures. Dad HATES my toilets. I can't say that I blame him, I hate 'em too. Any suggestions as to what to buy? I'm checking out Consumer Reports, etc.

Finally, the beach!

Got back to Maine early Monday morning( read 2 a.m.) and hit the beach yesterday, Tuesday. Perfect blue skies, lots of ocean breeze, and just the right temperature. It's been at least a year since my last beach outing, I missed it. After living in Ft. Lauderdale for all those years I had beach outings to a science. I kept my beach chair, towel, and suit in my car at all times 'cuz you just didn't know when you'd have an opportunity to hit da beach. Amber, my sister-in-law, kinda does the same thing. I was unloading everything out of the van yesterday after we got back to the house. Amber reminded me that we would be heading back today the beach and so I could just leave everything in the van. Ah bliss!
We had lob-stah for dinner last night. Ben made sure that I got two! I love it! Paytyn tried the lobster and she LOVED it. How many 14 month old babies do you know that like lobster? It was pretty fun to see Aspen and Owen crack their lobsters open. These kids know how it is done. They had already picked out their nutcrackers and were ready to crack those bad boys open.

Girls Camp 2009

We just got back from Girls Camp this afternoon. I don't remember the last time I went 4 days without showering, shaving the legs, or putting on make-up. I could probably do without the make-up but showering and de-foresting the legs are a must. I almost cried when I came home today because I had turned the water heater off before I left and the thought of an ice cold shower was terrifying. Luckily there was still hot water in there(I'm not quite sure how that works. Can anyone explain?) Let's just say that what I thought was me acquiring a tan...was not. :) My tan has now washed off, with probably 8 layers of bug spray and sunscreen.


We had 8 girls go up to camp, our Bishop, The Livingstons(Alisa & Dennis), the Bish's wife Jan to help in the kitchen along with Connie Burns. We were so happy to have so many leaders with us, it made our experience great!
I have never been to Girls Camp in Utah before. My camp experiences were in Wisconsin where our stake used a Girl Scout Camp. So imagine my shock and dismay when there was no pool, craft cabin, canoes, or walk-in freezer to use to cool off. It's OK, I recovered pretty quickly. Camping in the Uintas was absolutely beautiful. And to be honest, I didn't really miss the pool or canoes. We heard the pond/lake was filled with leeches so I don't think I really would have wanted to go in there. The camp was surrounded by wildflowers and the Uinta mountains.


Our stake theme this year was Dr. Seuss' Oh The Places You Go, our ward's theme was Green Eggs & Ham. I wish I could tell you I was super crafty with our theme, but alas, I was not.
Because, who really wants to go around with green eggs on their shirt? We made up for it with yellow bandannas and hoodies.
And of course, our crafts were excellent! The girls designed fabulous covers for journals, and we all LOVE Mod Podge! What did we do without it before? The girls also made boards that said Be Thou An Example and decorated them with ribbon, flowers, and cool eyelets.The last craft we got to was making magnets out of flat glass marbles. We still have travel size B of Mormons for them to cover, and then a chipboard FRIEND scrapbook for them to make. And to think I was worried about them having enough to do.

One thing that I love about Girls Camp is how much I learn about myself. It is a wonderful time to be removed from the world in a dedicated place just for the young women of the church. Some of the things that I discovered about myself is that I have more patience than I thought. I have been struggling with prayer for the last year or so. My dad has a wonderful testimony of prayer, and talks about it often with our family. I've felt that maybe my Heavenly Father has had me on mute for the last year so. You know, I've been saying my prayers but he hasn't had the volume up? Having this calling has literally pushed me to my knees and almost forced me to pray. There is absolutely no way that I could do this calling without the inspiration of my Heavenly Father. There are so many decisions that have far reaching consequences, and if I was to make them on my own with my limited wisdom and knowledge, the results would be disastrous. I've had many situations where I have had to have an answer from my Heavenly Father, because there was no other way for me to make the right decision. My faith in prayer has been renewed. I have had to wait for the answer, because I couldn't proceed without it. It has really helped me to concentrate on my prayers and to wait for the answer. I have always been able to recognize the spirit, but waiting for an answer is sometimes excruciating.
The spirit was very strong this week for me. I had a moment this week up at camp where I had really wanted to be able to talk to my father. I really felt like I needed to talk with him and seek his advice. Almost like What Would Dana Do in this situation. Being up in the Uintas, there is no cell phone reception so that was definitely not an option. I wished that he was there with me. I was praying to my Heavenly Father, pouring out my soul and wishing for comfort. As I was sitting there on that log I could swear that I felt someone put their arm around me. My Heavenly Father must have known that I needed that because it seemed like a miracle for me. I talked to my dad today and told him about what had happened. He said that he'd been thinking about me on that Wednesday. My dad has the uncanny ability to tune into The Force as he calls it. I can't tell you how many times that my father has sensed from 2,000 miles that something wasn't right and called to check on me. What a blessing my parents are in my life. My parents have unwavering testimonies and are wonderful examples of being obedient. I've learned from them that it is better to be obedient to inspiration than to go your own way.
Being at Girls Camp with my presidency and our girls was a wonderful experience. It is such a different environment in which to get to know people. We aren't in our best clothes at church putting our best faces, we are who we really are. In all our un-showered bandanna-ed and clean-faced glory. Though I did bring my tweezers, because who knows when you're gonna have a rogue hair that just has to be plucked?
This week gave me new perspective and appreciation for the wonderful blessings in my life. Like these girls thinking that my next birthday would be my 27th. Wahoo!!!! That made my day! : )

Old school pics of the Dyer Fam

I was putting away some things this evening and ran across these old pictures of my family. I almost can't believe that my little brothers used to be so cute. They're a little more hairy and brawny lately, but what're you gonna do? : )
Enjoy!

2 days til DisneyWorld

I almost can't believe it. A whole week in FL with siblings, nieces, nephews, and parental units. Now, all I need to do is find some kind soul to take me to the airport Saturday morning at 5:30...Trying to think what I could use to bribe...I've got 2 heads of lettuce, a giant bowl of cut-up watermelon, and snack size bags of carrots to get through before Saturday morning. OH, and some chocolate cake. Any takers?

Spring Break, at last!

Can I just say that I think this picture is the first time in a LONG time that these 4 siblings have been in the same picture? The twins were on missions, then at West Point. Al and I have been in Utah forever. Now, we just need to photoshop Ben in...
I've been waiting for Spring Break for a loooooong time. I almost can't decide what to do first. I did start off my vacation with a little house cleaning, decoupage project of Be Hoppy(see: stickmup.blogspot.com), giving a piano lesson to Lori, and an early morning trip to Wal-Mart armed with my coupons. You thought I was going to say armed with something else? I thought about it, but my holster doesn't hang so good on workout capris. I can hear my father now: "Mer, you always have to be armed, doesn't matter where you go or what you do." Of course, that doesn't include the post office or church. So, yes, I went without the steel.
I haven't posted anything on here on a long time. Let's see, what's changed since I posted last?
1. Last SEP conference of the year!
2. I'm the new YW president in my ward
3. Lentil soup is the best thing ever ( http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/lentil-soup-recipe/index.html)
4. New nephew, Aiden James: see jndyer.blogspot.com
5. Applied for a passport
6. Going to Disney World first week in May!!!
The Disney World trip is going to be so great. I'm flying into Alabama to see Nate & Jaimie and Aiden, then Al, and the folks and I are headed down to Orlando. I'm getting the 5 day pass to the Disney World Resorts. I don't think I've ever done 5 days at a theme park. Ben and Amber rented a 6 bedroom house down in Orlando, with a pool. A couple of Amber's sisters are coming too, so we're gonna have a full house. At first, I wasn't going to take the week off from work. I was talking with Owen one day on Skype, and he was asking if I was going to come. I told him no, and his little face fell. The more I thought about it, and after talking with Monique, I decided I should do it. When am I ever going to have this opportunity to go on a vacation with my nieces and nephew when they are this age? Probably never. Florida here I come!!!

I don't know if I can stay up till all hours anymore & light fixture drama

So, I'm gonna have the Laurels in my ward over for a slumber party. Am I crazy to think that I can stay up with these girls? I'm sooooo not the girl I used to be. My old roomie Tiff and I used to say that sleep was for wusses, and that we would sleep when we were dead. I've decided that sleep is super underrated. I love sleeping. A soft bed, comfy blanket, squishy pillows, and a quiet place is my idea of heaven! I'd even take a good nap over a great chocolate dessert any day. Of course, I say that now and some lovely person is going to offer me a super decadent rich chocolate cheesecake and I'm going to have jump ship on the nap idea and dive wholeheartedly into the cheesecake.
Also, a shout out to Jesse in NYC. Jesse, I miss you for many reasons, but most of all I wish you were here to help me put in my new light fixture. I'm attempting to put in my new light fixture and the new Allison, Jon's wife, zapped me the other night while I was wrapping wires. We thought the light was completely turned off , but it wasn't. And, while we were wrapping the wires, we were talking to my dad on Skype so he saw the whole thing.